Will Power scored his first IndyCar victory in almost exactly two years, leading a one-two-three for Penske at Road America.
The shape of the race was set when first-time pole-winner Linus Lundqvist was hit at the first corner by one of his team mates, triggering a multi-car crash.Lundqvist led the field to turn one with a fast-starting Kyle Kirkwood up from fourth alongside him. However Lundqvist’s Ganassi team mate Marcus Armstrong got too close to the pole winner as they rounded the first corner and knocked him into a spin at the exit.
Colton Herta, who shared the front row with Lundqvist, was unable to avoided the melee. The oncoming field reacted swiftly to avoid the three spinners, but in a stroke Armstrong’s error wiped out the trio of top three starters.
Following a second Safety Car period, necessitated by Kyffin Simpson spinning off at the final corner, Penske’s Scott McLaughlin led the field away followed by Kirkwood and Josef Newgarden, back in action after his huge crash at the end of qualifying. Power was sixth at this stage behind Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon.
Newgarden looked in strong shape strategically as he dispensed with the unfavoured red ‘alternate’ tyres in his first stint. McLaughlin was the first of the three Penske drivers to pit, coming in on lap 16, followed a lap later by his team mates.
The pattern repeated at their second stops and although McLaughlin emerged behind his team mate he was able to sweep past them. Now he and Power took the alternates, however, and the number 12 driver risked taking his a lap further than his team mate.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
That proved decisive: after the final tyre changes Newgarden came out comfortable ahead of McLaughlin, but Power jumped the pair of them handsomely, and ran out the winner by 3.2 seconds over Newgarden.
Alex Palou salvaged fourth place for Ganassi after their frustrating start to the race. Kirkwood slipped to fifth, while Herta impressively recovering to sixth after his delay. Romain Grosjean was close behind as he claimed his best result for Juncos Hollinger so far with seventh.
Pato O’Ward, Marcus Ericsson and Graham Rahal completed the top 10. The luckless Lundqvist came in 12th behind Christian Lundgaard.
Race result
| P. | No. | Driver | Team | Engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Will Power | Penske | Chevrolet |
| 2 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | Penske | Chevrolet |
| 3 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Penske | Chevrolet |
| 4 | 10 | Alex Palou | Ganassi | Honda |
| 5 | 22 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti | Honda |
| 6 | 21 | Colton Herta | Andretti/Curb-Agajanian | Honda |
| 7 | 32 | Romain Grosjean | Juncos Hollinger | Chevrolet |
| 8 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 9 | 23 | Marcus Ericsson | Andretti | Honda |
| 10 | 14 | Graham Rahal | RLL | Honda |
| 11 | 27 | Christian Lundgaard | RLL | Honda |
| 12 | 8 | Linus Lundqvist | Ganassi | Honda |
| 13 | 6 | Theo Pourchaire | McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 14 | 29 | Felix Rosenqvist | Meyer Shank | Honda |
| 15 | 13 | Santino Ferrucci | Foyt | Chevrolet |
| 16 | 24 | Pietro Fittipaldi | RLL | Honda |
| 17 | 26 | Sting Ray Robb | Foyt | Chevrolet |
| 18 | 7 | Alexander Rossi | McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 19 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank | Honda |
| 20 | 25 | Christian Rasmussen | Carpenter | Chevrolet |
| 21 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Ganassi | Honda |
| 22 | 28 | Luca Ghiotto | Coyne/WR | Honda |
| 23 | 33 | Nolan Siegel | Juncos Hollinger | Chevrolet |
| 24 | 18 | Rinus VeeKay | Carpenter | Chevrolet |
| 25 | 16 | Jack Harvey | Coyne | Honda |
| 26 | 11 | Marcus Armstrong | Ganassi | Honda |
| 27 | 4 | Kyffin Simpson | Ganassi | Honda |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
IndyCar
- Andretti confirms he’s stepping down in charge of racing team
- Ilott gets first seat in Prema’s new IndyCar team
- Palou clinches third IndyCar title as Herta passes O’Ward to win finale
- Kirkwood takes pole for finale, Palou only 24th after penalty
- Ferrucci secures second Foyt IndyCar seat for 2025 alongside Malukas
Don
10th June 2024, 16:44
Turn one was a disaster for Lundqvist and several others. Why didn’t Newgarden get a penalty for hitting Herta? Congrats to WP.
Radoye
10th June 2024, 18:09
Newgarden ran into Herta because Herta suddenly slowed down in front of him – which he had to do to avoid running into the Lundqvist / Armstrong crash. I guess Newgarden could’ve been more careful and anticipate Herta would brake when they saw cars spinning out in front of them, but that’s the main difference between the Herta / Newgarden and Lundqvist / Armstrong situations that i can see. Armstrong hit Lundqvist while both were going at race speed and got punished, Newgarden hit Herta who stomped on the brake in front of him and avoided a penalty. Just very bad luck for Herta.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
11th June 2024, 9:14
It’s a difficult year as a Swedish Indycar fan. On the one hand, we have THREE drivers. Two of them have secured pole position this year, and the third was on the podium as recently as Detroit. Still, it just feels like very little is going their way right now.
I hope Linus can turn a corner with this Saturday at least, and Felix has often found himself up front in qualifying but still lacks some pace in that car on race days. And Ericsson, well… Let’s just say his season started in Detroit and if so then P2 and P9 are two decent results!
Michael (@cavman99)
11th June 2024, 14:41
Keith, you should check the driver numbers for the Andretti and Carpenter teams; they look incorrect.